CORRESPONDENCE_55C - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Re: Bristol Street Widening Project Our Historic Washington Square Neighborhood has waited for a long time for the widening of Bristol along our western border. The amendment to the EIR that has been twice postponed for a voted does not adequately address the scope of the needs of the public in general and residents of Washington Square in particular. 1. Proposed "Visibility Wall" is not high enough. 2. Bristol/Washington Intersection needs reconfiguration to accommodate traffic flow and mitigate serious safety issues. 3. "Full Take" plan should NOT be modified to insure Vehicular and Pedestrian Safety on the east side of Bristol from Washington Ave. to 17th 4. Blighted Vacant lot (City- Owned) at NE Corner Washington and Bristol needs remediation sooner rather than later. Here are our concerns and recommendations regarding these points POINT 1: We believe the proposal is for an 8 foot wall. An 8 foot wall is 2 feet too short to protect Louise Street residents behind it from the noise and pollution increase resulting from the addition of 2 more lanes of traffic on Bristol. Looking forward, If you build an 8 foot wall there, then those of us who live on Louise between Washington and Civic Center will have to put up with an 8 foot wall when that section of Bristol is widened. Current residents and homeowners behind the Chevron Station and In `N Out Burger live with the continuing problem of noise and people throwing trash or jumping over the existing wall into their yards. An 8 foot wall is too easy to scale and pretty easy to throw stuff over. We believe a 9 foot wall would be a reasonable compromise that most of us could reluctantly support. POINT 2: The intersection of Bristol and Washington is a huge problem and this will be our only opportunity to correct it. This intersection is the main entry and egress from our neighborhood. As it is, it is dangerous and inadequate to handle traffic flow. We need a Left Turn Arrow to allow vehicles southbound on Bristol to turn east onto Washington. Routinely, northbound Bristol cars run the light, putting left - tumers, who are in middle of the intersection, in danger. There have been numerous accidents as a result, some resulting in fatalities. We need a Right Tarn Lane for vehicles Westbound on Washington who need to go North onto Bristol which would allow them to turn right on the red light. As it is, vehicles continuing west on Washington block those needing to turn right until the light changes. That green light is very short. Vehicles are backed up for 1 to 3 blocks in mornings and afternoons with traffic going to and from Wilson School and in the early morning and late afternoons when people are going to and coming from work. The City owns the vacant lot on the northeast comer of Washington and